Hong Kong Boosts Land Sale Transparency to tame the city’s land prices

Hong Kong is learning from its all-time rival Singapore as it seeks to tame the city’s land prices.

In addition to the tender amount of the successful bidder in land sales, the Hong Kong government will now publish the amounts of all failing tender submissions, announced Secretary for Development Michael Wong in a media briefing for land sale programme in the new year.

Under the city’s previous land tender system, only the winning bid is revealed while the amounts of other bids submitted were not disclosed. Starting from April, after all transaction procedures for the successful bid are completed, the government will publish the amounts of the other tender submissions, though without identifying who made which offers.

“In view of the uniqueness of the property market, we think it may be a good time to increase the transparency of the market.”

Michael Wong, Secretary for Development,

The rule change is designed to enhance transparency, similar to Singapore’s practice of publishing an anonymous list of all tender amounts submitted.